Tagged and tracked

A new system that provides real-time, intelligent, end-to-end tracking and tracing for goods being transported around the world has been developed with the help of 2.5 million Euros from the EUs

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ParcelCall brought together a consortium of leading European industrial and academic partners to create a system that operates across all borders and carriers whatever mode of transport is being used. The system utilises RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, a Mobile Logistic Server (MLS) with GPS (Global Positioning System) and ‘Thinking Tags’ that measure and monitor environmental conditions.

“Although many carriers in transport and logistics have had tracking and tracing systems in place, these only cover the individual carrier”, says Professor Robin Williams, at the University of Edinburgh, who led ParcelCall’s socio-economic research component. “Now, with supply chains becoming more and more complex - often involving more than one carrier and multiple transport modes - there is a much higher demand for an across the board system. ParcelCall focuses on interoperability, open interfaces, and standardisation in order to allow seamless tracking and tracing across the entire logistics and transportation chain.